Four-man scramble shoots a 47?

[bames]

Yesterday three guys from our firm and I played in four-man scramble for a charity golf tournament. Let me first explain a few caveats of the tourney. First, for $5.00 one could purchase a mulligan on any tee box. Second, for $50.00 one could purchase a 3 foot piece of string which could create a 6 foot diameter hole (vs. the traditional 4" hole) at anytime on the course, so anything within 3 feet is good. That being said, our company set out to shoot a 10-under 62 and came up one shy with a 63 (9 pars - 9 birdies). Considering we didn't purchase any mulligans or string we thought we did OK, not well enough to win, but respectable for our foursome. Lo and behold a group comes in with a 25-under 47. I say BULL! That would be 11 birdies and 7 eagles. This course is fairly long and difficult with 3 of the 4 par-3s being 200+ yds. (Slope = 122 Rating = 71.6, Yardage = 6768)Everyone played from the tips. What do you think? Has anyone seen a score like this? Generally around here a 12 to 15 under will win a scramble with the occasional 17 to 19 under popping up. Maybe I'm wrong - but we just cannot believe it.

[Rockford35]

Sounds like they have pretty light wallets now. Hell, if each guy bought a mulligan on each hole, you'd think they'd have someone inside 3 feet on par 3's.

I hate, HATE, cheating that happens on scrambles. Impossible to enforce, but shitty nonetheless.

R35

[IrishGolfer]

What h/cs did these guys play off?
Sounds way fishy to me. I'd hated to have played well that day and feel stiffed. 54 is about the best I have heard.

Andy is the Scramble specialist, he plays with some low h/c dudes and they usually clean up. The h/c system for scramble definitely favours the low h/c teams.

[DaveE]

It seems unlikely but with that piece of string and if everyone maxed out on mulligans I guess it's possible.

[bruinfan]

with those liberal rules, i don't think it's outrageous at all. what did second place come in, and how many mullys did they buy, and the string is huge.

[Andy_79]

Originally Posted by IrishGolfer

Andy is the Scramble specialist, he plays with some low h/c dudes and they usually clean up. The h/c system for scramble definitely favours the low h/c teams.

We have had 3 X 17-unders, and believe me that takes some doing !!

That HAS to be bull-sh*t, it really does !

Rock: Have you ever heard of folk cheating in Scrambles ?? That is just not on !!! Bad craic, like.....

[Andy_79]

Oh, on the subject of Scrambles, The Bushmills sponsored annual one is this Sunday. We have 2 Scratch men, myself (2), and a big-hitting (but wild) 5-man on our team. One of the Scratch guys just got put out of the British Boys this afternoon in the 3rd round, so he'll be home just in time to retain our Scramble crown....

[Rockford35]

Originally Posted by Andy_79

Rock: Have you ever heard of folk cheating in Scrambles ?? That is just not on !!! Bad craic, like.....

I've put this up before.

We played in a scramble a couple years back on a cold, windy day. It rained on and off, but the wind was damn near 50km all day. We shot an amazing 4 under, which turned out to be the clubhouse lead over 18 other groups.

The group behind us, who incidently had the Minister of our office in it, came in -7. They had some woman who had never played golf before and another guy who's swing looked like he was trying to pass a swingset. The mulligan thing was in effect in this tourney - we bought exactly ZERO mulligans. Then how the HELL did they finish 3 strokes better?

Turns out we had 2nd place by 5 strokes or so. So I know this had to be Grade A .

R35

[Andy_79]

One word:

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........

[Farquod]

Most of the scramble events I've played in have posted winners at 14-18 under (to bolster Andy's comment, 17 under is probably the most common winning score).

However, that string thing is the wildcard, and would cut a lot of shots. A LOT. So, between that and unlimited Mulligans (could you use these outside of tee shots?) I agree that 25 under seems feasible.

Without the string, no way.

[Rockford35]

Tiger
Ernie
Phil
Vijay

Scramble score, no mulligans. Whadya think? -18? -20?

R35

[bames]

Mulligans were only off the tee. I figure that they had to eagle all four par-5s, eagle two par-4s, and basically hit a hole in one on a par-3. Pretty impressive round - even for a scramble. NOW, couple that with a birdie - NO PARS MIND YOU - on all of the 11 remaining holes!

We played well, we never had any long putts for par - all tap-ins. They also had an older man (it was a family so he was the father) who I'm guessing is about 65 yrs old.

By the way, it really struck me how difficult and impressive it is to see a string of birdies during a tour event. It took four of us putting and hitting from one location to pick up 5 birdies on the back nine. "THESE GUYS ARE GOOD".

[bames]

Originally Posted by Rockford35

Tiger
Ernie
Phil
Vijay

Scramble score, no mulligans. Whadya think? -18? -20?

R35

Rock, Good question. I would love to see it. I've often wanted to see how a pro would do on a normal day at my home course. No extra narrow fairways or 7" rough with wicked pin placements - just come play 18.

[Farquod]

Originally Posted by bames

We played well, we never had any long putts for par - all tap-ins.

That string thing. Those were all birdies for them.

With 3 feet of wiggle-room, I bet some wedges were "good."

Originally Posted by Rocky35

Tiger, Ernie, Phil, Vijay.

Scramble score, no mulligans. Whadya think?

-18 minimum. Take out anyone other than Tiger and add in a Fairway Machine like Fred Funk, and they'll go lower.

[Rockford35]

Originally Posted by Farquod

....add in a Fairway Machine like Fred Funk, and they'll go lower.

What about Ernie or Vijay? Even at 60% plus for each, they'd make out alright.

Which is sickening in it's own right...

R35